Last night marked the first PPV entry of a mixed card here on this side of the Atlantic. While the biggest events in Japanese history are almost universally events mixing kickboxing and MMA, stateside the attitudes have been different regarding the use of both sports on the same stage. While there were lots of criticisms among hardcore fans on both sides of the spectrum about the combination of the fights, really, it was up to the casual fans to decide whether or not the show was a success. And their ultimate reaction displated the uncomfortable truth so many, particularly on the MMA side, were often willing to admit. MMA here was not the primary story, nor was it ever. No one was going to buy tickets to see Nelson/Monson, no matter how well matched they were on paper. The show was an exhibition in Roy Jones’ ego, and at least inside the arena, it sure looked like it was a success.

The event opened with a pair of quick and entirely expected results on the MMA end of things. Dennis Hallman, long reduced to gate keeper status since his wins over Matt Hughes what seems like an eternity ago, dismantled the inargurably mediocre Danny Ruiz in short order with the sort of immediate takedown/rear naked combination often seen at low level MMA events. That was followed by Adrenaline MMA vet Gabe Lemley’s bout with Din Thomas, one which provided the best offensive exchanges of the entire night, ultimately ending with Din landing a spectacular knee to the face of Lemley. Its remarkable to think that Din never got a shot in the UFC at 145 in spite of being such a high level lightweight for so long, and equally shocking to see that with featherweight tourneys popping up all over the world that he is not in any of them.

After a start that most every MMA fan would be assumed to be happy with, along comes Bobby Lashley, and with him, the end of the event’s entertaining portion. Lashley’s sideshow bout with Ken Shamrock was take away at the last minute when he tested positive for an army of roids for his bout with the racist whale that occurred at Wargodz, leaving in his place gatekeeper extraordinare Jason Guida. Lashley was still expected by many to run through Guida, but found himself in the first round entirely unable to take his foe down. The bout degenerated into occasional takedowns by the larger Lashley with extended lay and pray as he looked completely uncomfortable passing the guard of Guida, with long sequences of excitementless clinches. Lashley won on paper, but was exposed as far more hype than substance, having put on display a lack of high level wrestling, no ability to work on the mat against an mildly competent foe, and laughable striking. He comes away looking less like a future Brock Lesnarish rising star and something closer to Chris Tuchscherer with muscles.

This was followed by a not necessarily horrible but not enthralling cruiserweight bout featuring prospect BJ Flores. Flores had effectively thrown his career in the toilet following his win over gatekeeper Darnell Flores in February of 2008, instead allowing the cruiserweight division to hustle along without him (and ensuring that IBF champ Tomasz Adamek would become a star along the way by never taking him up for a fight). Flores was matched with Jose Luis Herrera, a major puncher with an equally insufficent chin and poor technique. That combination meant that Herrera either stopped every man he ever fought or had been stopped himself inside the distance. Naturally, Flores and Herrera went a full 10, with Flores having Herrera on his backfoot virtually the whole fight but being so terrified of his power that he refused to go after a stoppage that seemed ready to occur from Round 4 onward. Flores did nothing for his career; it continues to spin its wheels endlessly, as Flores prefers to match himself 2 times a year at max while waiting for a “deserved” title fight against a superior fighter. TV viewers were then treated to the reason why prelims almost never get shown on PPVs of boxing with 5 of 6 rounds from 11-16 Bobby DaLuz and undefeated prospect Kieyon Bussey. DaLuz was thought to be the winner by everyone, including Bussey’s hometown fans, but the decision went the way of the local boy much to the dismay of announcers (If Bob Sheridan admits it was a bad decision, it was bad) and fans alike.

The MMA “main event” was positioned next on the card, and had some buzz among hardcore fans going in due to it being a “well matched” bout of lower end top 20 heavyweight contenders. Jeff Monson and Roy Nelson then further puth the event in a hole with another exhibition of borderline sumo that Nelson seemed to get the better of. He repeatedly took down Monson, landed the more effective blows, and even mounted the former ADCC champ at times. Much to the chagrin of the audience, again, another highly questionable decision: Monson got the W and Nelson simply left the ring, disgusted. The fight did clear one thing up: Outside the UFC and the triumvrate of top heavyweights that have competed for Affliction, there’s a huge chunk of mediocrity sitting at the bottom of the top 20 all collected together. None of them are clearly far superior to any of the others, and yet they’d all represent strong competition for many of the UFC’s young, untested big men.

The final fight of the night got the biggest response, and no one could be be surprised. Roy Jones Jr. was the real attraction to everyone, and his decision to put MMA on the card opposite him became all to obvious. Those who were going to buy a Roy Jones PPV to see Roy would do it no matter what, which is why he faced the long retired Omar Sheika. But to get attention in ways that he failed to accomplish when fighting the Prince Badi Ajamus of the world, he saw putting on midlevel MMA as his support as the best and most cost effective way to do it. And to an extent, it worked: The building sold plenty of tickets and the event was deemed worthy for ESPN interviews, HDNet discussion, and tons of blogging. Any attention is better than no attention, after all, and Roy needs that attention to get a sniff at another big money fight that he so badly wants. His schooling of Sheika was purely academic; aged as Roy is, so is Sheika, and Roy was always far superior to the entertaining but middle of the pack Omar.

Roy’s decision to stay around will be criticized by many in MMA as proof of boxing’s refusal to let its old stars just go away, but his decision to stay is not one many boxing fans share. It is Roy’s, not the sport’s, and it is no more the failure of boxing that he continues to compete than that of MMA that virtually all of its aging stars still lurch their way into rings. Funaki, Sakuraba, Tamura, Kerr, Coleman, Frye, Abbott, Shamrock and so many others still show up in MMA rings, far beyond their best days, with well established physical disabilities and drug problems. While Roy’s dream of endless pugilistic glory borders on shameful, the sport of MMA gave no reason for anyone to believe it was significantly different last night. Not that it was more exciting, and not that its any less dependant on aging names who did great things long ago.